Brexit exiles on Costa del Sol fear for their future

British expats and tourists enjoy the atmosphere in a terrace of an English bar in Benalmádena, Spain. While Spain’s many British residents may have little interest in the day-to-day developments of U.K. politics, they are deeply troubled by how their country’s imminent split from the EU will affect them | David Ramos/Getty Images

British expats and tourists enjoy the atmosphere in a terrace of an English bar in Benalmádena, Spain. While Spain’s many British residents may have little interest in the day-to-day developments of U.K. politics, they are deeply troubled by how their country’s imminent split from the EU will affect them | David Ramos/Getty Images

MÁLAGA, Spain — Taking aim at the dart board at a pub in Fuengirola, Alf Brewer looks every bit the British retiree living the good life on the Costa del Sol. But despite his beachwear and sun-reddened face, he stands out among a politically detached British expat community. A long-time member of the Labour Party, he has been tirelessly campaigning for its international branch since moving to Spain 10 years ago.

It’s a tough job. Even with a U.K. general election looming on June 8 and the tumultuous state of British politics, it can be hard to motivate fellow Labour voters.

“I know there are a lot of Labour people here, but trying to get a gathering together…,” he says, his voice trailing off in exasperation.

“There are too many other attractions,” he explains. “For example, we’ve never had a meeting anywhere near the summer, because it’s too hot, people spend too long on the beach or too long in a bar. It’s lonely in that there isn’t the same political drive and passion [as in the U.K.] and trying to get involved in Spanish politics is so difficult.”

But while Spain’s many British residents may have little interest in the day-to-day developments of U.K. politics, they are deeply troubled by how their country’s imminent split from the EU will affect them — and in some ways already has. These expatriates are also concerned that the Brexit debate raging more than 1,000 miles to the north — with its focus on trade deals, the economy and migration to the U.K. — has little to do with their own very specific concerns.

With the U.K. about to negotiate its divorce from the EU, the only remaining certainty for British expats is the sun.

“The benefits to a Brit living in Europe are massive — and they’re all in danger of being taken away from us,” Brewer says.

“What the British population [in Spain] is saying is: ‘Who’s looking after us?’ We came here under a set of circumstances that somebody else has changed. And we don’t hear anybody in the U.K. looking after us, defending us, looking after our rights, negotiating for us.”

Estimates regarding the number of British nationals living in Spain fluctuate wildly. Many are not formally registered and many others travel frequently between the two countries. However, the National Statistics Institute (INE) puts the figure at around 300,000, with the majority of those living either on the Costa Blanca on Spain’s east coast, or the southern Costa del Sol. Both areas have built up large tourism industries, driven in large part by British visitors, since the latter days of the dictatorship of Francisco Franco, who died in 1975.

Juan Carlos Maldonado, mayor of Mijas, a town near Málaga on the Costa del Sol, says the British “represent a major presence here, so they contribute in a big, decisive way to our economy, particularly from the point of view of residential tourism — most of them live here all year round.”

A general view of villas with the Spanish city of Fuengirola on the background. Estimates regarding the number of British nationals living in Spain fluctuate wildly | David Ramos/Getty Images

Mijas, like Fuengirola, Benalmádena and several other resorts near Málaga, is perched on the Mediterranean coastline, with a commercial area near the beach and a zone further inland where expats tend to live in villas in gated communities.

These foreigners were drawn primarily by the climate, but also by the strength of the pound against the euro and Spain’s free health care system, to which citizens of fellow EU countries have access.

But now, with the U.K. about to negotiate its divorce from the EU, the only remaining certainty for British expats is the sun.

* * *

British pensioner Isabel Hampton flew from Spain to the U.K. last June to vote Remain in the EU referendum. A lifelong Conservative voter, she says many of her retired British friends on the Costa del Sol have been affected by the dip in the value of the pound, from €1.30 just before the ballot to around €1.15 now.

“If you’re on a limited or fixed income and that’s your pension then it matters and it matters big time,” she says, speaking in a square full of British bars in Benalmádena. “You come out here to have a nice life, an enjoyable life, a relaxed life — and then all of a sudden you go back to penny counting.”

For many, health care is an even bigger concern than the weakness of the pound.

The Spanish health care system has remained robust despite the pressures of austerity in recent years. The U.K. government pays Spain to help fund this service for its nationals, to the tune of £223 million in the 2014-15 period. The cost to Spain of looking after a mainly pension-aged British community is likely much higher than that, but with expats being so crucial to the local economy, it is a complaint rarely raised in the political sphere.

Members of the Royal British Legion Mijas Costa branch are seeing during their weekly meeting in Mijas, Spain. If British residents start to leave the country in large numbers, Spain is likely to feel the pinch | David Ramos/Getty Image

But, as Hampton points out, pensioners make up a large proportion of Spain’s British community. “If all the old people who retired out here all went back to the U.K., the National Health Service would crash,” she says.

Javier Castrodeza, a senior official in the Spanish health ministry, has said that once the U.K. has formalized its departure, British residents and visitors will be treated “as non-EU citizens, with a different health care status” — that is, without free access to the Spanish system.

For many pensioners, that raises the prospect of either having to pay for private health care — or returning home.

“If we lose [health care], I don’t know what we do,” says Glyn Emerton, who has lived with his wife Kathleen in Mijas for 10 years. “We’d have to fund our own health care, which would be impossible, bearing in mind our age and what it would cost, so would we have to go back to Great Britain? I certainly hope not.”

Kathleen, his wife, agrees. “It’s the not knowing, that’s the worst thing,” she says.

* * *

One way to stave off such uncertainty for long-time British residents would be to apply for Spanish nationality, thereby ensuring they would remain EU citizens after Britain formally leaves the bloc. But there is no agreement in place allowing dual Spanish-British nationality — one passport must be surrendered in order to gain the other.

This has sparked an online campaign by long-time British residents to persuade the government in Madrid to waive that rule and allow them to gain dual nationality if they have lived in Spain for more than 10 years.

“We want to be Spaniards, Europeans and British — a reflection of our true identity, one that Brexit will take away from us,” says the petition, which has just over 20,000 signatories. As a precedent, it cites legislation passed by the conservative government of Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy in 2015, which granted dual nationality to the descendants of Jews expelled from Spain in 1492.

The Brexit effect appears to be most pronounced in the property market, where Brits are by far the biggest foreign buyers.

But the pleas of disgruntled British residents do not seem to be a priority for Mariano Rajoy’s minority government. The conservative prime minister has already scored a notable Brexit-related victory by ensuring that any future divorce deal between the EU and the U.K. that affects Gibraltar must be approved by Spain, according to the European Council’s draft negotiating guidelines.

However, if British residents start to leave the country in large numbers, Spain is likely to feel the pinch. The registered British population of the Costa del Sol’s Málaga province, where many expats settle, fell by just under 10 percent last year to 45,000, although that continued a trend that had begun several years before. If the exodus accelerates, the economic impact for Spain could be severe.

The Brexit effect appears to be most pronounced in the property market, where Brits are by far the biggest foreign buyers, accounting for nearly a fifth of sales to non-nationals. British purchases had been rising rapidly in recent years, more than doubling between 2012 and 2015, as Spain’s market recovered from a double-dip recession. But last year spending flattened out, a development the land registrars’ association attributed directly to the U.K.’s imminent departure from the EU.

* * *

The Costa del Sol’s British community inhabit an unusual political microclimate. Spain has traditionally drawn many elderly, relatively affluent, British citizens who would be natural conservative voters. Yet they are as unsettled as their Labour and Liberal counterparts about how Brexit might hurt them. Another issue that unites expats across the political spectrum is the fact that they lose the right to vote after 15 years abroad, leaving them unable to influence the general election.

“A lot of people are worried by the stance that the [British] government is taking and they’re worried because they’re unable to vote in these elections,” says Giles Brown, who hosts a phone-in show on Talk Radio Europe in Marbella.

He estimates that around 80 percent of British expats here who took part in last year’s referendum voted to remain. One of the reasons for that, he explains, is that the members of the British community are acutely aware of how Brexit affects their pocket.

British tourists play pool at an English bar in Benalmádena, Spain. The Costa del Sol’s British community inhabit an unusual political microclimate | David Ramos/Getty Images

“To say, as was the case perhaps 20 years ago, that people come over here to enjoy the sunshine, play golf and have lunch out three times a week doesn’t really ring true,” Brown says.

“Things have changed here — the value of the pound has fallen and people are finding it hard […] A lot of my listeners are finding it very hard to make ends meet.”

Back in Fuengirola, Alf Brewer looks ruefully across the Mediterranean as he recalls his hopes and dreams when he moved here a decade ago.

“I wanted to come and live in the sun and hopefully have a longer life without any worries,” he says. “That seems to have been affected slightly by people voting for us to leave the EU.”

Then he adds, half joking: “But they can’t take the sun away from us!”

bruno

Well, brexiteers don’t realize, don’t care, don’t think about other people and their life. Hence these selfish decisions. Me myself and I and nothing else matters.

Posted on 5/31/17 | 7:36 AM CET

john

@bruno
Brexit wont work for British nor expats. It wont for for anyone and we can already see the damage it has caused. Why Britain has the most expensive food, services, etc? Just to call it independence and starve?

Posted on 5/31/17 | 8:04 AM CET

edel

Talking just on UK-Spain interchanges;

1) Like this article mentioned many of those 300,000 retirees will return back to UK. They will see their pensions further eroded in a much more expensive UK. But what it is worse, the NHS will have to cope with new influx of aged people with the highest demand of their services.

2) Many of the tens of thousands of medical professional Spaniards that work in the NHS will return (and future ones decided for other countries instead), further putting a stress in the NHS system as point 1 did.

3) Spain will see that UK will buy less Spanish produce for instead from other more distant regions like Turkey, Prices for Britons will increase and the most poorer British will choose less healthy meals for more processed ones to keep costs down.

What hurts from Brexit is not the decision itself, there are some good arguments for it, but that it was won with falsehoods of how modern economies work and a unbias balance of how much it cost and UK receives. People also say “we want more independence” when they don’t know that when you have a trade deal with the EU or with Australia, Turkey or India, you always have a bit of your independence eroded… or you think Australian and Indian companies will accept have their commercial disputes dealt exclusively by British judges!? The good arguments for Brexit are not dealt with at all, so likely wont be focused on.

Posted on 5/31/17 | 8:31 AM CET

Milton38

Dear commentators,
you are finally starting to realize that the NF’s and BJ’s, who bamboozled the voters in leaving the EU, don’t care a penny for your well-being, never have and never will.
Well, welcome to the Real World.

Posted on 5/31/17 | 9:16 AM CET

Alexandre

This story shows how insignificant and meaningless is the citizenship of the EU. One day you have it, next day you don’t.

I pitty these folks very much. I suppose many of them were not allowed to take part in the brexit referendum. Could anobody else (Malta?) grant them citizenship?

Posted on 5/31/17 | 9:28 AM CET

Peter D Gardner

Of course they fear for their futures, they’re living overseas in a country not noted for its democracy, rights to property and drawing index linked non-means-tested pensions courtesy of the UK tax-payer simply because Spain is in the EU, whereas British ex-pats outside the EU do not enjoy such privilege. Were it not for British sovereignty over Gibraltar and the near bankruptcy of Spain they would be over-run by migrants from North Africa. Hard to feel much sympathy so long as they are not actively discriminated against, but you cannot expect to be protected by British laws and paid by the UK taxpayer if you choose to live overseas. I do as well but I am not making any special pleas. My choice and I did not choose Spain, nor France.

Posted on 5/31/17 | 9:52 AM CET

tony

We do indeed live in a strange world where those who care about soverignity independence, making their own laws and controlling their own borders are considered to be somehow anti social or not normal.

We do not want to be part of a Europe that is being integrated before our eyes by a German chancellor who has put the interests of her own country above that of member states. The Euro is built around Germanys needs, as are the interest rates, trading patterns, unemployment and immigration.

Why should the British want to sign up to that vision? Which does not mean that we do not feel European. We like European countries and their peoples, but the vision being sketched out for the future of the EU is one we do not subscribe to.

Posted on 5/31/17 | 9:59 AM CET

Ronald Grünebaum

@Alexandre

Maybe you should inform yourself before you comment.

EU citizenship does not exist as a standalone right. It is linked to the citizenship of an EU member state. And the UK has decided that it no longer wants to be an EU member. Thus the EU citizenship ceases to exist for the British subjects.

Of course, the folks in question could decide to become Spaniards. But since I had property on the Costa del Sol for many years I can affirm you that the Brits down there never cared a bit for their host nation. Very few can utter a Spanish sentence. Many do not respect Spanish culture and customs and quite a number of them actually go to Gibraltar for grocery shopping because they find British food superior. So many will struggle to make a convincing claim to Spanish citizenship.

Theo

So, how many of them voted for Brexit? A good number, if you believe the reports. Turkeys and Christmas comes to mind.

Posted on 5/31/17 | 11:22 AM CET

S. Alexander

@Ronald Grünebaum

You are absolutely wrong. The EU citizenship is a standalone status granted on a personal basis to all member states citizens and has absolutely no revoking clause built into it. It is not linked to being citizen of a member state, but, being a citizen of a member state is a condition for receiving the EU citizenship. Children born in UK upto 29 March 2019 or early if they decide, are still EU citizens and as there is no clause for revoking they have the status for life.

However, the EU citizenship does grant some rights such as visa free movement across the EU, but it does not grant free access to Spain HS as this is gtranted for member states citizens and not EU citizens.

Posted on 5/31/17 | 11:22 AM CET

That's right

Always the weakest suffer the decisions of the most stupid.

Unfortunately, I wouldn’t be able to explain to an American family or pensioners why they should have less rights at this point.

The NHS is in real trouble.

Posted on 5/31/17 | 11:24 AM CET

Flavius

As a European citizen, I’d be happy to see a large % of the brit tourists and expats who infest southern Europe go home. It would make visiting Spain, France, Portugal, etc., so much more enjoyable for the rest of us.

Posted on 5/31/17 | 11:42 AM CET

steve

@Peter D Gardner
“Spain is not known for its democracy and rights to property”, where does that come from. Give me one example of Spain’s democracy being inferior to that in Britain? Or give me an example of prperty rights being weaker?
As for Spain being bankrupt, well in that case the UK is also Bankrupt because on a like for like basis they both have 100% debt to GDp ratios

Posted on 5/31/17 | 11:59 AM CET

steve

@Alexandre, by definition EU citizenship depends on the country being in the EU. It is far from being insignificant and meaningless

Posted on 5/31/17 | 12:00 PM CET

Gerhard L.

What did Therese May repeat endlessly, like a broken record? – Brexit means Brexit! Better walk away with no deal, than with a bad deal!

Is that how the new, truly global United Kingdom will look like – with Brits “proudly” being locked in on their fabulous island?

Yet, it is just amazing how the entire Brexit disaster is still presented by those still convinced it was for the better of the country – they paint a completely distorted picture – just as Britain could dictate the rest of the world the conditions under which the former empire would graciously deal with them. They haven’t noticed that the UK, which one day may indeed be reduced to little more than Little England, is anything but a superpower, in fact it does not even represent a significant regional power, lagging behind (financially) Germany, France (culturally), the Scandinavian countries (socially), and, in terms of military power, being reduced to the eternal lackey of the US. Indeed, what great opportunities for a truly globally acting UK…

Posted on 5/31/17 | 12:17 PM CET

S. Alexander

@steve

No it is not linked to member state citizenship. It is a separate status in it’s own, being a member state citizend being the condition to accrue the EU citizenship. There is nothing legally specified as to how once given the EU citizenshio – a separate citizenship – can be revoked. Geez…you people talk from your imagination.

Here: Treaty of Maastricht Art. 8 – do read.

Posted on 5/31/17 | 12:21 PM CET

Florel

@S. Alexander
You are absolutely wrong and Ronald Grünebaum is absolutely correct.

@EU xenophobes
Try to keep the bigotry and xenophobia in check.

Posted on 5/31/17 | 12:28 PM CET

rolle

@tony: pretty funny since the loudest criticism about the (low) interest rates come from the German Bundesbank and its chief Weidmann. Reminds me of paranoid Brits, Poles and Frenchies who fear to become a colony of the Fourth Reich, while the same right-wing, uneducated morons in Germany believe that everyone’s purpose in the EU is to rob “German” money and keep the country weak.

Posted on 5/31/17 | 12:29 PM CET

Petre

@rolle

Well, historically there is good reason for all those fears.

Posted on 5/31/17 | 12:48 PM CET

Dan

So, the only consideration Brits should have had in the Brexit ref was the expats in Spain. Righto.

Posted on 5/31/17 | 12:49 PM CET

Appocoliptic chemist

Sniveling bunch of northerners, living in their pink and yellow counsel estates in the sun, pooping home for the odd hip replacement, we in the UK worry about you , as much as you care for us, NADA

Posted on 5/31/17 | 1:21 PM CET

Ivo Garibaldi

There are more than 1 million brits living in Spain, the vast majority as “no registrados”. They are a burden for the Sistema de Salud and the taxpayer. As for the retirees, they cant contribute too much to the local economy earning a jubilacion basica.
Maybe the worst part is they are unable to learn the language or get integrated.
It is the same in Italy and France.

Posted on 5/31/17 | 2:02 PM CET

S. Alexander

@Florel

”1. Citizenship of the Union is hereby established.
Every person holding the nationality of a Member State shall be a citizen of the
Union.
2. Citizens of the Union shall enjoy the rights conferred by this Treaty and shall be
subject to the duties imposed thereby.”

It depends how you interpret it I guess. I think this is a clear case for the ECJ.

My interpretation is that every person that has citizenship of a Member State receives the EU Citizenship, and, because loosing the EU citizenship is not provided in the Treaties, it is a status granted for life.

Posted on 5/31/17 | 2:55 PM CET

freddie silver

Article: “We want to be Spaniards, Europeans and British — a reflection of our true identity, one that Brexit will take away from us,” says the petition, which has just over 20,000 signatories.
Comment: No, what we really want are the advantages deriving from the three statuses

Posted on 5/31/17 | 5:46 PM CET

Mary Page

This piece does not represent all British immigrants living on the CdS. We do not all live in mainly British immigrant areas or large towns and focus solely on British politics although of course the Brexit vote will affect us. I too have been here for nearly ten years and intend to take out Spanish citizenship regardless of whether I lose my UK citizenship. Spain is my home, I left the UK over twelve years ago and have nothing to go back to or for. I am fully involved in Spanish political life, am a member of PSOE the sister Party of the British Labour Party and was a candidate in the last local elections. It’s easy to get involved in local life if you make the effort and learn Spanish.
The piece fails to make clear the fact that the ‘free’ Spanish healthcare is available only to retired persons, not every Brit who lives in Spain.
It’s true that very many people are finding it hard to make ends meet and are considering returning to the UK. When we left Prague for Spain in 2008 we calculated on one £ sterling =I euro, something we thought would never happen but shortly after we arrived here the £ and euro were one for one…
I think anyone planning to live in a foreign country should plan for the worst case scenario before taking the plunge. It seems that some British retirees came with a very thin cushion to shield them against financial shocks. Currencies fluctuate, taxes are raised, many things can affect your income if it’s in £sterling. Then I have friends who live in expensive houses but whose fixed incomes have been hit by the fall in sterling and who are finding it difficult to sell their properties at a price that would enable them to buy a home in the UK.
I am a Remainer, not because of the effect leaving the EU might have on my life here. Whatever, I’ll stay here. I am a Remainer because I believe that leaving the EU is a mistake of huge proportion which will have a very deleterious effect on the UK economy, on society as a whole and on the lives and prospects of future generations.
I’m hoping that as the effects of this decision begin to impact on the UK economy, the electorate will reconsider its very misguided vote of June last year.
There is still time for the country and the Government to come to its senses.

Posted on 5/31/17 | 6:17 PM CET

Deborah Wright

Mary Page’s comment sums it up very well. Voting to remain and hoping for Article 50 to be revoked is not done purely out of selfish concerns as an assimilated UK migrant in France. I too am truly concerned about the impact on the UK, the economy and the daily lives of people, friends and family back in the UK. Okay the EU and Eurozone need reform but to opt out of a major power and economic block that can trade and negotiate against the U.S. China and Russia is shooting one’s self in the foot (both of them). An isolated UK will have no chance, we have lost our manufacturing base, we will lose a significant part of our financial services base and with corporate taxes being paid outside of the UK there will be very little revenue to pay for all that supports the vulnerable and less well off in the UK communities – health care, welfare, pensions, housing and education. What a legacy for the younger generations, I think not!

Posted on 5/31/17 | 7:40 PM CET

European

The Brits have voted. They must bite the bullet and thank Nigel Farage for his lies! A nation gets what it deserves when it allows opportunists like Farage to manipulate politics without any counter-check by seasoned politicians. Let Theresa May deal with her British expats. Her NHS will be so burdened, also because she is against migration of medical staff, that the Little Englanders may sink in their increasingly little island.
The EU should NOT continue providing health care to the British pensioners. The should go home to where they belong. And make sure that the likes of Farage have nothing to do with politics. Good riddance!

Posted on 5/31/17 | 9:34 PM CET

European

The British expats on Southern EU shores have been of two kinds: real estate sharks driving up property prices and, thus, displacing locals; or retirees abusing the free health care.
Who wants these opportunists? Even pre-Brexit, they should have been driven away with an ax.

Posted on 5/31/17 | 10:03 PM CET

European

The Brits have so much going in their little island: they have Brighton for entertainment, the wonderfull woods with fox-hunting and bird-watching, London´s gourmet cuisine, and Scottisch salmon. And they have their NHS to boot!
What the hell are they seeking in the EU Southern shores? Cheap housing and free health care? Go home! Post-Brexit you have nothing going for you here. You have chosen so.

Posted on 5/31/17 | 10:20 PM CET

Tony

European

I am afraid you are wrong about British pensioners in the EU. The British govt pay some 670 million a year to cover the costs of healthcare for Brits overseas in europe

There are three times as many eu citizens in the UK as there are British citizens in the EU . The eu does not pay for their health care, We are the losers overall in the health financing.

Posted on 5/31/17 | 11:09 PM CET

The Heinrich Maneuver

“The U.K. government pays Spain to help fund this service for its nationals, to the tune of £223 million in the 2014-15 period. The cost to Spain of looking after a mainly pension-aged British community is likely much higher than that,”

And you have to add to that list the 700.000 brits who have not been “registrados”.
A real problem for the economy of the country and the EU.
They should move to gibraltar.

Posted on 6/1/17 | 2:39 AM CET

tony

The Heinrich Maneuver

you said;

‘And you have to add to that list the 700.000 brits who have not been “registrados”.

Yes, we have an awful lot of people here from the EU in the sae category.

Posted on 6/1/17 | 9:30 AM CET

Alex

@Tony

“There are three times as many eu citizens in the UK as there are British citizens in the EU”.

What you fail to mention is that the EU citizens in UK came there to work and pay taxes and in return, they benefit from healthcare. I don’t think they came for the beaches, bars and the beautiful weather, as the UK retirees in Spain.

Posted on 6/1/17 | 9:53 AM CET

Mediamaven

Twenty years ago my husband (then a US Navy officer) and I were stationed in Rota, Spain on the Costa de Luz, just down the coast from Marbella. And the entire area was already overrun with obnoxious egocentric Brits; They made ugly Americans look like rank amateurs.

Posted on 6/1/17 | 9:58 AM CET

Mary Page

There are some ignorant obnoxious posters here, never mind ‘obnoxious Brits’ on the Costas.
Yes there are Brits here I find deeply unpleasant – they like to call themselves ‘expats’ and whinge about the UK being overrun with ‘immigrants’. There are also deeply unpleasant Swedes, Finns, Germans, Russians, scarcely a surprise as the world contains all types of people.
Neither are all Brits here property sharks or speculators. Most British immgrants here are not wealthy. They are mainly the C1 and C2s , those who put Thatcher in Number Ten and who after a life of hard work, many owning small businesses, decided to enjoy their retirement in Spain. Very easy to sneer and patronise them, these folk who live in places like Alicante and Benalmadena……easy and also cheap, pretentious and vulgar.
There are also retired professionals, many fluent Spanish speakers and integrated into their village communities. I suppose I come into that category. As I said in a previous post, Spain is my home and it is where I shall remain, come what may.
But if no mutually satisfactory arrangement is made for reciprocal health care for non- EU Brits and EU citizens in the UK, then the UK could well be faced with an influx of elderly retirees with serious and chronic health problems which according to a Nuffield Report could cost the NHS twice as much as the current arrangement whereby the UK Government pays Spain for health care for Brits in receipt of the State Retirement Pension.

Posted on 6/1/17 | 2:14 PM CET

dominic

The good news here is lower house prices in that region for the rest of us! I am looking forward to buying a damn cheap retirement home in Spain!

Posted on 6/1/17 | 2:49 PM CET

Anthony Chambers

Generally EU law assumes that someone gets EU rights once they have “exercised their treaty rights”. Once they have done that, they have those rights and I seriously doubt they can be legally removed, no matter what happens in the brexit negotiations.

They are EU citizens and no one has shown me that that status can be removed involuntarily.

Posted on 6/1/17 | 4:34 PM CET

Anthony Chambers

Regarding EU citizenship the sentence from the Maastricht Treaty in English is extremely clear, it says that anyone that is a national of a member state “shall” be a European Citizen. The grammer of that is extremely clear. It allocates the status of European Citizen at the point of signing the treaty and for all future nationals born while the treaty is in force. Thus all living British citizens and all British citizens born until March 2019 are EU citizens. They have a direct relationship of citizen that exists between themselves and the legal entity which is the EU.

Posted on 6/1/17 | 4:44 PM CET

cassandra

Just goes too show you, by the spiteful comments on here, that there are hateful tw@ts everywhere. N.B. @European